Pillar Pair Story Collection
by Solosorca
Summary: A collection of my Ryoma/Tezuka oneshots. Rating may go up. Chapter 5: Everyone thinks Ryoma is going out with Sakuno. Everyone but Ryoma.
1. Chapter 1

**Heya, this story thing is just going to be a collection of oneshots, much like my FujiTaka one, but this time dedicated to my other OTP Pillar Pair. **

**I wrote the fic below for Tezuka's birthday**

* * *

Ryoma lay on his bed, watching Karupin try to catch the cat toy he was waving at him, deep in thought. What were you supposed to buy people for their birthday?

He'd only really bought presents for Karupin and he was sure Tezuka wouldn't appreciate cat treats. But, what were you supposed to get your boyfriend for his birthday?

He had no idea what Tezuka had or hadn't read, so books were out of the picture. He could just buy him some sort of generic present, but he wanted to buy something that Tezuka would like.

"What would you get him?" Ryoma asked the cat. Karupin ignored him in favour of leaping up and grabbing the toy in his mouth.

He decided against asking the other regulars for help, he was sure their ideas would range between boring and creepy. Asking his dad was well out of the equation as well. Nanjiro didn't exactly know Ryoma was dating a guy and any suggestions from him would probably involve lacy underwear. Besides, he was now determined to get the gift himself. He was Tezuka's boyfriend, he should know exactly what to get him.

So, the next day, he decided to go shopping, making up an excuse about having to run errands for his mother to get out of burgers with Momo and Eiji. He wandered around the shops, hoping he could find something. He hated going shopping without a clear goal in mind, he could think of nothing worse than walking around aimlessly picking things up and working out if Tezuka would like them.

As he walked down the street he saw a couple crowded around a street stall. A quick look around them showed the stall to be full of sparkly jewellery. For a moment, Ryoma considered stopping and investigating further. That was, until the thought of Tezuka wearing one of the pink, sparkly bracelets floated into his mind and he couldn't help but snigger. The couple turned around and glared at him, looking offended and Ryoma quickly walked away.

His judgement was quickly starting to disappear to be replaced by desperation. He found himself looking at a clothes hanger shaped like a butterfly and was seriously considering it for a minute before he mentally slapped himself and escaped from the shop as fast as possible.

Once back on the street he spotted a sports shop and made a beeline for it. He hadn't realised how stressful being in other shops was. Besides, he needed some new tennis balls. Probably. It would give him some time to think at least.

Tezuka would need some new grip tape soon, Ryoma thought as he looked through the tennis goods. He'd seen the grip on Tezuka's racquet in practice and it was getting pretty worn out… wait...

* * *

It wasn't a big surprise when they found a limo parked outside the school waiting for them after practice, especially when Atobe leaned out the window and told them they were coming to a surprise party for Tezuka at his house. Even Tezuka didn't look all too surprised at this, although he had tried to get out of it.

Ryoma hadn't given Tezuka his present yet. There had been too many people around Tezuka all day and Ryoma felt awkward dragging him away from them. But, this party would be the perfect opportunity. Atobe's parties were always packed, so no one would notice if Ryoma took Tezuka away somewhere a bit more private. (Atobe might notice, but in Ryoma's book anything that made Atobe unhappy was a bonus).

He didn't recognise more than half the people at the party, they were probably all from Hyotei, but a lot of the teams they'd played against in the nationals were there. There seemed to be a noticeable split between the tennis players and the Hyotei students. He was immediately challenged to matches by several people and spent most of the party on the tennis courts, beating regulars from other schools. It was pretty lucky really that Atobe had just grabbed them all out of school, meaning they all had their tennis gear with them. He'd just defeated Fuji's little brother when he saw Tezuka watching them from a balcony.

"I need a drink," he said before grabbing his bag and leaving.

Finding his way through the mansion was harder than he thought it would be, but he only got lost a couple of times before finding the balcony.

"Shouldn't you be with the Monkey King?" He asked as he joined Tezuka watching the doubles match that had broken out on the court. On one side was Fuji's little brother and Shinji from Fudomine, they were facing Aoi from Rokkaku and Hyotei's Jirou.

"Do you want me to be with him?" Tezuka asked.

"No," Ryoma replied, watching Jirou's serve go flying past Yuuta and Shinji. "It's just like you to escape from your own party."

"I think Atobe just wanted an excuse to throw a party."

"Maybe," Ryoma shrugged, knowing that that wasn't the case. He opened his bag and started rummaging in it. "I got you a present," he said, pulling out the neatly wrapped gift (he'd spent hours over the wrapping, making sure it was perfect). It had gotten a bit beaten up over the day in his bag, but still looked presentable. "Happy birthday."

Tezuka took it, "thank you," he said and started to unwrap it. He smiled when he saw what it was and Ryoma felt all warm inside. "As your boyfriend, don't I get to play tennis with you at any time anyway?" he asked, indicating the note attached to the high quality grip tape, saying that Tezuka could use it to challenge Ryoma to any match whenever he pleased.

"You do, but this is in case I say 'no' the first time," Ryoma explained, doubting there would ever be a time when he turned down Tezuka for a match.

"That's good to know."

Below them, an argument had broken out over whether one of Yuuta's shots was out.

"Can I kiss you?" Ryoma asked. He wondered how many other couples asked each other for kisses. It was just easier than leaning in and second guessing each other. This way, both of them knew what the other wanted.

Tezuka nodded and leaned down (Ryoma vowed in his head, one day he would get taller) as Ryoma stood on his toes and they met in the middle. The kiss was chaste and over quite quickly, but was very nice all the same.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" Tezuka asked.

"Sure," Ryoma agreed, picking up his bag and making to leave. "You know, I'm sure the street courts will be empty."


	2. Chapter 2

**This is not the best thing I have ever written OTL. I wrote it after the 2012 Olympics (it's ****_that_**** old) and it's the first Pillar Pair I've ever written.**

* * *

Less than a month after being knocked out of Wimbledon in the Quarterfinals by Andy Murray, Ryoma was back on Court No.1. This time though he wasn't playing for a Grand Slam, but for an Olympic Bronze Medal.

He'd almost turned down the opportunity to play at the London Olympics, but Tezuka had insisted that he go. Tezuka had accepted his invitation straight away, but convincing his boyfriend had taken a lot of persistence. They weren't the only Seigaku players to be invited to join the Japanese Olympic Team; Eiji and Oishi had won the gold medal in the men's doubles the previous day. They had both cried on the podium, something Ryoma was pretty sure Fuji would have recorded to play back to them at the most embarrassing times.

Ryoma hadn't wanted to go to the Opening Ceremony, but, again, Tezuka had insisted.

"It'll be something to tell your grandchildren," he said, holding out the uniform to Ryoma.

"The only way we're having grandchildren is if we find a way to make you pregnant," Ryoma muttered, but took the uniform anyway.

Ryoma had spent much of the opening ceremony with Eiji clinging to him, something the other man had yet to grow out of. He still called Ryoma 'Ochibi', despite Ryoma being a good few centimetres taller than him.

Thankfully their first matches were two days after the opening ceremony. Ryoma slept in till midday the day after the ceremony before Tezuka set Eiji on him to wake him up so that they could all go sight seeing.

Neither Ryoma nor Tezuka had much difficulty with their first few matches and quickly rose up the ranks. However, all good things must come to an end and both went out in the semi-finals. Ryoma lost against Andy Murray (again) after a long drawn out match and Tezuka went out against Roger Federer.

And now they were facing each other across the net on a hot and slightly humid Sunday lunchtime.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Ryoma could almost hear what the commentators were saying. How they both went to the same middle school and won The Nationals together. That the men's doubles pair that won gold had also in that team and how Tezuka was the captain and Ryoma had been the youngest.

One thing they wouldn't bring up would be the fact that Ryoma and Tezuka were in a relationship. Of course, that was because the press didn't know about it. It wasn't really a secret, but was more down to the fact that both of them were very private people and not ones for public displays of affection.

Ryoma took the first set, 6-4 and Tezuka took the second, also 4-6. Playing Tezuka wasn't like playing against any other player. They both knew each others games inside and out so they both at to play at the top of their game all the time, pulling out all their best moves and hoping for some good luck.

It all came down to the final set.

They traded points and games, neither of them wanting to give an inch. The crowd around them seemed to melt away until it was just himself and Tezuka and the court. It didn't matter that they were at Wimbledon playing for a medal, to Ryoma they could have been on the courts behind their apartment playing to see who was doing the washing up that night.

The match went to a tie brake, which went with serves until Ryoma managed to get an ace followed by a return ace and won the match. The crowd roared, but all Ryoma was focused on was Tezuka. They both approached the net, Tezuka reaching out his hand. Ryoma wasn't sure what came over him, maybe it was the joy of winning an Olympic Medal (which he hadn't really wanted in the first place) or he'd actually forgotten that they weren't on the courts behind their apartment, but he grabbed a handful of Tezuka's shirt and pulled him close, pressing their lips together.

Tezuka had obviously forgotten where they were as well as, instead of politely pushing Ryoma off, he melted into the kiss.

"Congratulations," Tezuka said when they moved apart a few moments later and ignoring the wolf-whistles from the crowd, "It was a good match." Not one to break with tradition, he held out his hand.

Ryoma nodded in agreement and shook Tezuka's hand, "probably a bit too late for the handshake, Buchou."

He was pleased to say that he didn't cry on the podium and he could tell his potential grandchildren that he lost to the Gold Medal winner. In four years time he would be on the top spot of the podium, he told himself.

* * *

When they arrived back home at their apartment, Ryoma picked up Karupin and slid the medal over the cat's head. Tezuka just sighed when he saw the cat running around the house wearing the medal and went to catching him and save it.

They ended up getting up in the early hours of the morning to watch the closing ceremony with the volume turned down so as not to disturb their neighbours. They were curled up on the sofa together under a blanket with Ryoma dozing through most of it.

"I'm going to get Gold next time," Ryoma said as the Olympic flag was handed over to the Mayor of Rio de Janeiro. Tezuka looked down at him and saw his eyes fixed to the screen, his face set with determination. "You'd better be there as well and you'd better get Silver."

"Who says I won't win the Gold Medal," Tezuka replied, gently stroking Ryoma's hair.

"Just as long as I can play you in the final that's fine," Ryoma said before drifting off back to sleep.

Tezuka wasn't sure why he'd got up in the first place if he'd planned to just sleep though the ceremony. He sat back and watch the Brazilian segment, one hand stroking Ryoma's hair and the other stroking Karupin who had curled up in his lap.

He fell asleep ten minutes later.


	3. Chapter 3

**Tezuka, Ryoma and Karupin cuddling. What could be cuter?**

* * *

Tezuka sat up in bed, engrossed in his book. The detective was just about to reveal whether the murderer of Lord Watson was the shady butler or the illegitimate son he'd had with a tightrope walker from a travelling circus when he was sixteen. Tezuka was pretty sure it was the butler.

He felt the bed move under him. He glanced up from his book and saw Karupin trotting across the bed towards him. He reached out and stroked the cat as he hopped onto his lap and stretched out across it. Karupin purred happily as Tezuka returned to his book, but continued to stroke the cat.

"Have they found the murderer yet?" Ryoma asked when he came into the bedroom. Tezuka had been keeping him up to date with developments in the book.

"Not yet," Tezuka replied.

"It was the bastard son."

"Ryoma," Tezuka warned, his voice full of disapproval of Ryoma's language.

"Kunimitsu," Ryoma replied in the same tone of voice.

Tezuka went back to his book whilst Ryoma changed for bed. He wished the detective would hurry up and reveal the murderer. He didn't need to tell the gathered audience of suspects why it couldn't have been Lady Watson, they'd established three chapters ago that she'd been showing the gardener how to properly clean drains. She had not wanted anyone to know for fear that it would ruin her status.

The bed dipped next to him as Ryoma got in and curled up next to Tezuka. Their hands touched periodically as Ryoma joined in stroking Karupin.

"You were right," Tezuka said a few minutes later. The murderer had been revealed.

"Told you," Ryoma said, stifling a yawn. "Now put the book away. We need to get up tomorrow."

"I want to see why it wasn't the butler," Tezuka told him, "go to sleep if you're tired." Not that it would make it any easier to get Ryoma up the next morning.

"It's too light," Ryoma muttered.

Tezuka sighed, he'd seen Ryoma sleeping under a table once and had witnessed him falling asleep on the floor in the corner of an airport. To say Ryoma could sleep anywhere was an understatement in Tezuka's opinion. He wondered how Atobe managed to cope with Jirou.

He stopped stroking Karupin to run his fingers through Ryoma's hair. "I won't be long," he promised, "I'll tell you why it wasn't the butler."

It turned out that the butler had been having an affair with the Dowager Countess. Tezuka had to hand it to the author, he hadn't been expecting that. Neither had Ryoma judging by how he looked up at Tezuka to make sure he wasn't messing with him.

Karupin had grown bored of lack of attention form Tezuka and had gone to curl up on the other side of Ryoma. Tezuka put his book and glasses back on the bedside table and switched off the light. Almost immediately he was pulled into Ryoma's arms.

"Night," Ryoma said, judging by his voice he was already half asleep.

"Good night," Tezuka replied, wrapping his arms around the other man and drifting off to sleep himself.


	4. Chapter 4

**This one also has implied FujiTaka, just a warning in case that's not your thing. I do enjoy writing Fuji teasing Tezuka.**

* * *

"So, you're having sex with him then?"

It wasn't a normal way to start a phone call with your friend, but then again Fuji wasn't a normal person. Tezuka was very tempted just to hang up on him, but he knew that doing so would inevitably lead to bad consequences. On the other hand, he had no idea how to reply to this. Fuji had obviously phoned him up to tease him and therefore knew the answer was 'yes'.

"You called him 'Ryoma' in _Monthly Pro Tennis_," Fuji continued, "should we look out for wedding invitations?"

Tezuka rubbed the bridge of his nose, he knew he'd regret slipping up and calling Ryoma by his given name in the interview. He'd only given the magazine an interview for old times sake and had thought that making a fuss about what he called his close friend/rival would cause more of a stir than just ignoring that he'd made a mistake and carrying on like it was normal. After all, they did live and train together (although the public thought this was because they were good friends and attended all the same tournaments, not that they'd been in a relationship since middle school), surely it was natural he would call Ryoma 'Ryoma'.

"We're not getting married," Tezuka insisted.

"Oh~, but you are having sex?" Fuji asked. Tezuka could practically hear his smile.

He thought about asking whether Fuji regularly asked about his friends' sex lives, but knew the answer already. This was Fuji after all.

"I think you already know the answer to that."

Tezuka really hoped that Fuji's next question was not going to be 'since when?'. Fuji would have a field day if he found out Ryoma had only been 15 when they'd first had sex. It had been in a hotel room in Paris, which sounded very romantic until you took into account the fact it was one of the cheapest ones they could find and the long talk before hand to make sure that they were both ready. The sex hadn't been that great either.

Fuji chuckled to himself. Tezuka knew that he wouldn't let it slip to the press, whether he'd 'accidentally' tell Kikumaru (and therefore the rest of the old Seigaku regulars) was another thing.

"How's Kawamura?" Tezuka asked, hoping to change the subject.

"He's _good_," Fuji purred and Tezuka wished he hadn't asked.


	5. Chapter 5

This fic has been sitting around unfinished for months and I finally got around to finishing it today. I hope you all enjoy it!

* * *

It had been a mistake to leave his phone on the table.

"What's this?" Nanjiro crowed, brandishing the phone at Ryoma. There was a message on the screen, but Ryoma couldn't read it, "have you got a girlfriend?"

"Don't just look through other people's messages," Ryoma snapped, making a grab for the phone and missing.

"What's she like then? Is she pretty? I know! It's that old hag's granddaughter, isn't it?" Nanjiro continued, laughing as his son tried in vain to get back his phone.

"No! Give it back!" Ryoma managed to get his hands on his phones and snatched it back. The message on the screen said 'do you want to meet on Saturday?'.

"My son's got a date!" Nanjiro announced loudly to the whole house (and probably the entire neighbourhood).

Ryoma sighed, he wouldn't be able to changes his father's mind now.

"So, when are you going to bring her home? I want to meet your new girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend," Ryoma insisted, getting up and stomping to his room. Karupin was waiting for him on his bed. He scooped the cat up and hugged him, "I don't have a girlfriend," he repeated, downstairs he could hear his father excitedly telling his mother about his non-existent girlfriend.

He sat down on his bed and looked Karupin in the eyes, "I'm dating Tezuka-buchou," he explained to the cat, who just looked back at him nonplussed.

* * *

Ryoma endured his father's teasing all through breakfast the next morning. It was enough to drive him out of the house early enough to get to morning practice early. Oishi had been very surprised to see him waiting outside the club room, sat on the ground and yawning.

"Echizen, you're here early," he said, unlocking the door.

"Karupin woke me up," Ryoma lied.

Tezuka arrived exactly fifteen minutes before practice.

"At least you don't have to give me laps today," Ryoma said as Tezuka started to get changed.

Morning practice went along as usual. That was until Ryuzaki-sensei pulled Ryoma over to one side.

"I've just had a phone call from your father," she started.

Oh God, Ryoma thought, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"He says you're dating my granddaughter."

"I'm not," Ryoma insisted, tugging his cap down. The other regulars were not far away and doubtless one of them would be listening into the conversation.

"He told me you'd say that," Ryuzaki said. She sighed, "Look, I don't mind you dating her, just don't hurt her."

"I'm not dating her!" Ryoma said again. He understood his father not listening to him, but Ryuzaki-sensei? Out of the corner of his eye he saw Momo and Kikumaru watching them and whispering. Ryoma resigned himself to having to put up with questioning from them next.

Ryuzaki-sensei seemed to have made up her mind that Ryoma and her granddaughter (Ryoma really needed to try and remember her name) were now a couple and short of outing himself and Tezuka, Ryoma didn't really know how he could change her mind. Whilst he didn't mind outing himself, he had no idea what Tezuka wanted. They hadn't talked about it.

Ryuzaki went to oversee the rest of practice and Ryoma saw Kikumaru and Momo heading his way. He scarpered in the opposite direction and joined the other first years in doing drills. Tezuka, who had seen the entire scene, gave him a questioning and slightly amused look. Ryoma tried to convey 'please don't ask' back at him.

Sadly, by lunchtime everyone knew exactly what had happened, or rather, everyone knew that Ryoma was dating Ryuzaki's granddaughter. Momo and Kikumaru burst into his classroom almost as soon as lunch started.

"I can't believe you've got a girlfriend! Why did you tell me about her?"

"Shorty! You're so grown up! When did you two start going out?!"

Of course, the rest of the first years had found out and he'd been surrounded by Horio and the rest of his first year friends. Ryoma made a quick escape and went to hide in the library, hoping that Tezuka would be there. He wasn't, so Ryoma grabbed a random book and started at it, fuming. Why had his stupid dad just had to look at his phone and then not believe his son? Why hadn't Momo and Kikumaru believed him either? Weren't they supposed to be his friends?

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and Ryoma looked around to see Fuji standing behind him. He was smiling serenely as usual, although there was a hard edge to it.

"Eiji told me you have a girlfriend," he said, "congratulations. I did think your affections had lied somewhere else though." He gave Ryoma a sharp look that look him aback. What was Fuji getting at? "By the way, do you know what Ryuzaki's granddaughter is called? I have to ask her something and I've completely forgotten it."

Suddenly, Ryoma could see a bright, light at the end of the long tunnel. A bright, Fuji shaped light. He'd found out Sakuno's name at the start of lunch, he'd picked it out from the wall of noise that had been surrounding him. It would be easy to get it wrong.

"Sakura," Ryoma replied with total confidence whilst internally praising Fuji for being his saviour. Fuji would sort this mess out. "and I'm not dating her," he added.

The hard edge disappeared from Fuji's smile disappeared and he patted Ryoma on the shoulder. "I'll see you at practice."

* * *

He spend afternoon lessons ignoring Sakuno, who had now heard the rumour and kept looking at him and blushing. He couldn't wait for the day to end, even if it meant having to deal with his father. At least he would have Karupin at home.

Practice came around and he was warming up when he saw the two girls hovering by the fence watching him. He figured he should probably talk to Sakuno about this, she could help stop the rumour as well. He finished stretching and sauntered over to the fence, ignoring Momo's catcalls. The shrill girl didn't seem to want Sakuno to go off with him, but they were able to get away from her.

"We need to talk," he said and Sakuno turned red. This was going to be an annoying conversation.

"I-I don't know how that rumour started," Sakuno said when they'd moved slightly away from the courts.

"It was my dad," Ryoma explained, "he got hold of my phone, assumed I was dating you and then told Ryuzaki-sensei."

"Oh."

"As long as you keep telling people it's not true they'll believe us eventually," Ryoma said, "I'm sorry, it's a pain I know."

"No, no, it's fine," Sakuno said quickly, "I keep trying to tell people that we're not dating, but they won't believe me."

Ryoma nodded and sighed, "they'll get bored."

"Urm.." Sakuno started, her face now the colour of Kikumaru's hair. "Is there any chance….that...urm…" her voice got so quiet Ryoma could barely heard her.

She was going to ask that, wasn't she? Ryoma almost groaned in exasperation. He put his hands on her shoulders and made her look at him. "I'm dating someone else."

"Oh," she squeaked, "sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine," Ryoma shrugged. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Kikumaru and Momo watching them, he just knew they'd be taking all of this the wrong way. "I have to go back to practice. You should too, you're a member of the girl's tennis team, aren't you?"

As he walked away, Tomoka ran past him, giving him a nasty look for upsetting Sakuno. He didn't see how it was his fault, she'd asked and he'd told her the truth. He walked back onto the courts and made a beeline to Tezuka; Momo and Kikumaru wouldn't dare try to bother him whilst he was standing next to him, not if they didn't want laps.

"It's all my dad's fault," he muttered at Tezuka, who nodded.

"Do you want to play a game?" Tezuka asked and Ryoma grinned at him.

Ryoma put everything into the match, as he always did with Tezuka. He didn't think anyone but them would be able to understand how they communicated through tennis. He put all his frustration and annoyance into his strokes along with asking Tezuka for forgiveness for letting his dad get a hold of his phone. The balls Tezuka returned spoke of forgiveness and comfort.

Their match ended and Ryoma looked to the side lines where Momo and Kikumaru were gossiping and Fuji was standing near them, looking like the cat who had got the cream. Clearly, he wasn't going to crush Momo and Kikumaru's dreams until he'd got enough amusement out of their wrong assumptions. The bastard.

"Momoshiro! Kikumaru! If you're not going to practice you can do laps!" Tezuka barked at them. They both jumped and looked guilty, then started laps. He turned on Fuji, "you're playing me now."

"Okay," Fuji said, grabbing his racquet and walking onto the court.

Despite having just played Ryoma, Tezuka crushed Fuji six games to two. Ryoma watched from the side lines, keeping score and smirking at Kikumaru and Momo when they ran past him.

* * *

Somehow, he and Tezuka ending up getting changed before anyone else. It happened occasionally and Ryoma was relieved that today was one of those days. They changed in the comfortable silence that always surrounded them. It was nice to be able to forget everything that had happened that day.

Ryoma finished getting dressed and quietly jumped on the bench behind Tezuka. He snuck over to his boyfriend and wrapped his arms around his neck, hugging him close and burying his head in Tezuka's neck. One day, he would be tall enough to do with without the help of a bench, but right now he had to deal with it.

"Echizen, someone might see us," Tezuka said, calmly finishing buttoning up his shirt. But Ryoma could hear how his heartbeat had quickened.

"Then we'll just go to plan F," Ryoma replied. Tezuka was warm and smelt of sweat, not that Ryoma minded. He probably smelt exactly the same.

Tezuka finished buttoning up his shirt and leaned his head against Ryoma's, his hands coming up to rest on Ryoma's arms. "What where you talking to Ryuzaki's granddaughter about?"

"Just apologising for this mess," Ryoma replied, pressing a quick kiss against Tezuka's neck, "and telling her I'm not single."

Tezuka squeezed his arm and their silence fell around them again. That was until the door knob rattled and the door swung open. Almost immediately, Ryoma hooked his legs around Tezuka's waist. Tezuka grabbed them and started walking towards the door.

"He's feeling faint," Tezuka explained to Oishi, who had come into the clubroom, "I'm taking him to the nurse."

Ryoma hid his face in Tezuka's shoulder, not to hide his embarrassment, but to hide the Cheshire cat grin that had spread across his face. He was quite happy letting Tezuka carry him around.

The nurse couldn't find anything wrong with him, but suggested he rest before going home. "The tennis practice may have over exerted you," she told Ryoma, who nodded.

"I'll walk him home," Tezuka offered.

"Only if that's okay with you," Ryoma said, putting on his best 'please look after me senpai' voice to see if he could get Tezuka flustered. It didn't work.

Tezuka nodded.

"Well, if he's with you then it should be okay if you leave now," the nurse said, "just make sure you sit down if you feel faint again," she said to Ryoma.

"This is a good excuse to get out of burgers with Momo-senpai," Ryoma said after they'd picked up their things and left the school. He hadn't been looking forward to being interrogated by Momo about his non-existent girlfriend.

"You can't use me to avoid him forever," Tezuka warned him.

"He'll get bored soon," Ryoma said, "we could always kiss in front of him, that'll get him to shut up."

"Just talk to him," Tezuka said, "don't let it get out of hand."

It already is, Ryoma thought, "I'll sort it out, don't worry. Plan F worked well."

"We can't use it too much, people will start to think you're ill."

"I just can't help swooning around my big strong captain."

"It would certainly keep you quite if that were true."

They made their way to Ryoma's house, Ryoma trying to think of ways of inviting Tezuka in and smuggling him up to his bedroom.

* * *

I think it's safe to assume that Tezuka was successfully smuggled into Ryoma's bedroom and spent the evening cuddling with Karupin.


End file.
